The audience experience of broadcast media since the earliest days of commercial radio and television is one of a continuous flow of programming on one station or channel at a time. This flow consists of a succession of content types—programming, commercial breaks, promotional announcements, etc. Unless the viewer either tunes to another station or turns off the set, the program provider is in a position to determine the entire sequence by which one program or message type flows into the next.
In this environment, it's the programmer, not the viewer who sets the sequence of various content types and the schedule on which they are aired. A viewer can choose whether or not to tune into a given program stream, and when to abandon it, but he or she has no control over the order of events, their start times, or their stop times. When one program element ends, the next program begins automatically.
The advent of the digital video recorder (DVR) and the more advanced media center-style set top box changes this pattern radically. Rather than simply experiencing a preset flow of programming and messages, the user of a DVR can invoke a series of discrete, discontinuous elements to constitute their own virtual channel. A recorded program can be played at any time of day. It can be stopped in the middle. The user can switch to another program at will. Watching TV with this kind of device is very much like playing a series of phonograph records or CDs.
This change from continuous flow to discrete events diminishes the effectiveness of standard broadcast advertising inserted into a program stream. It also diminishes the ability of a broadcaster to arrange programs in a sequence that is designed to keep the audience of a given show watching while the subsequent show begins.
For these and other reasons, broadcast program providers have voiced concern, even alarm, that the widespread adoption of digital recording devices will threaten traditional methods for attracting, holding, and advertising to a loyal audience.
In some previous DVR designs, when the playback of a recorded show or sequence ends—or is stopped by the user, the screen will typically return the user to a full-screen interactive menu system presenting a series of options that the viewer can choose to watch next.
In other previous DVR designs, when the playback of a recorded show or sequence ends—or is stopped by the user, the screen area is divided between the menu system and a small window that shows current live broadcast content. The area showing live TV is sometimes referred to as the mini-TV window or a picture-in-graphic (PIG) window. The channel to which the DVR was previously tuned will continue to stay tuned after playback of the recorded sequence. This is a wasted opportunity to control what is being displayed in the mini-TV window.